On Wings of Light
by thebookwasbetter394
Summary: Most people know that Natsu has a brother, but what if he had a sister as well? Someone to add a little feminine touch to the Dragneels. Well, probably anyway. Join Trinity Dragneel and her brothers on their adventure starting from when they are young, to the current manga arc.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fan fiction so please read and leave constructive comments (or just read. Honestly, I'm just happy if you read!). I'm always open to suggestions on how to get better! Ok, here it goes!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or it's characters, only my OCs.

On Wings of Light Chapter 1:

It was 3 am in the morning and Trinity Dragneel was not amused. She had a huge test the next day but her little brother Natsu didn't seem to care. He kept wandering around the hall outside of her door, repeatedly glancing in to see if she'd noticed him, which she had, 10 times. She glared at the door, just as Natsu did another round; peaking into her room and seeing her seeing him, so he ducked behind the door, giggling. This was so not funny.

Trinity took a breath, _OK, the next time he does it I'm gonna kick his little butt all the way to Bosco._ Soundlessly, she slipped off the sheets and sat with her feet on the ground. As expected, Natsu poked his head from the side of the door, expecting to see her glaring at him from the bed but instead seeing her lunge at him. He shrieked, both because of shock and giddiness as his older sister grabbed him and brought him into a tight hug saying, "Gotcha!" As Natsu laughed, Trinity couldn't help but smile and smother him with hugs and affection, rubbing his spiky pink hair.

"Do you mind being a little quieter out there?" Their older brother Zeref snapped from inside his room around the corner. The siblings' laughs stopped at once. They turned to each other, and Trinity scrunched up her face, mocking Zeref, causing Natsu to burst into laughter again. Trinity giggled softly, and they heard Zeref sigh from his room.

Trinity turned back to her little brother, smiling, before picking him up and walking over to his room.

"Let's get you to bed, Natsu," she said, "hopefully this time you'll stay."

Trinity woke up in the morning feeling like crap. She moaned, throwing a chunk of deep brown hair to hide her face from the sunlight streaming in through her window. She sighed, knowing she had to get up and had to go to school and had to this and had to that, but she really just wanted to stay in bed all day.

 _Best to get it over with,_ she thought before hauling herself out of bed and walking over to her closet, rubbing her eyes. It was for that reason that she didn't see the lump on her floor, and why she tripped over it, landing flat on her face.

Trinity sat up, rubbing her nose. She turned around looking for what had made her trip. Her eyes landed on the back of the head of a spiky pink haired boy. She tilted her head at him, wondering what he was doing on her floor, before she walked over to him, gingerly nudging his shoulder

"Natsu," she said softly. Natsu opened his eyes slowly, blinking a few times. He looked up at her, not quite registering who she was for a moment, sleep still thick in his brain.

"Why are you on my floor Natsu?" she asked him as he sat up, yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"I had a bad dream," he responded, his tiny voice a little frightened. She could see small tear tracks on his face. Trinity looked at him sadly. Her heart went out to her brother. She loved him more than anything and hated to see him cry.

"Well you didn't have to sleep on the floor," she said brightly, standing him up, "you could have woken me up. I wouldn't have minded." Trinity brushed some pink hair from his face, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Now go get dressed, you have school today." Trinity watched him hop out the door and turn left, heading towards his room. She frowned once he was out of sight. He seemed to be getting these bad dreams more often. _I wonder…_ she thought, her mind getting started on what would most definitely be a long train of thought, but Natsu poking his head around the door interrupted her.

"Oh and onee-chan," he said innocently, "I think I saw a spider under your bed last night. K, I'm gonna go have breakfast now!" He smiled at her horrified expression and happily skipped away.

Trinity turned back to her bed slowly, fear making its way up to her throat. She quickly grabbed her clothes and rushed out of the room, deciding to change in the bathroom instead. Trinity Dragneel wasn't scared of much, but spiders absolutely terrified her.

Trinity sat at the table with the rest of the family eating breakfast. She was wearing a plain red dress that's sleeves went to her elbows and skirt went to her knees. Simple sandals that had straps all the way up to just below her knees, and a leather belt were her only accessories. Her deep brown, almost black hair was pulled up in a ponytail, with a chunk of hair on both sides and her bangs hanging out, framing her face. Her pale dark green eyes that everyone in her family had were darting around the table, eyeing the bananas and coconuts. Her family was bar far not rich. In fact, out of the whole village, they were the poorest, but no one in the family minded, as long as they were happy and had food on the table.

"I'm going to go to school now, I've got a big test awaiting me," Trinity announced, standing from the table after finishing her breakfast. She had decided to go with the banana. Trinity was walking towards the door when her mother spoke.

"Oh, Trinity! Can you drop your brother off at school too? I remembered I'm going into the city today," Trinity's mother was a tall woman, skinny and elegant. She had black hair like Zeref, though it was curly not straight like his, and she had the reptilian green eyes that the whole family had.

"Sure," Trinity replied, motioning for Natsu to take her hand.

"I'm coming too," Zeref said, grabbing his bag and walking over to Trinity.

"Well yeah duh, you have school too," Trinity said back to him, receiving a roll of the eye and a smile.

"All right smarty-pants, lets get a move on, don't want to be late for that test now do we?" Zeref said, giving her a taunting eye. Trinity puffed out her cheeks, giving him an annoyed scowl.

"Can we just go?" Natsu whined in exasperation, "At this rate, we won't ever get to school!" Zeref laughed and took his brothers hand before heading out the door. Trinity huffed and stalked after them, still brooding over Zeref.

"Be safe!" their father, a muscular man with short pink hair (like Natsu's) called as they walked out the door.

"We always are!" Trinity called back without turning around.

"Aw, lighten up Trinity. I'm sure you'll do fine on the test," Zeref said, mock reassuringly. Trinity shot him a look, but smiled inside. Yeah, she was going to do fine. Zeref was just teasing her, trying to get her to cheer up.

Natsu tugged on Zeref's hand, "Come on! We're going to be late!" Zeref smiled at him.

"I'll race you there!" he said taking off down the road. Natsu giggled and took off after him. Trinity smiled, watching her two brothers chasing each other. _What a great family._

After her classes finished, Trinity made her way to where her brothers and her usually met to go home, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw it. What she saw at first didn't seem to be too bad, but when she looked closer, she was shocked. Zeref was yelling at three kids who seemed to be Natsu's age. Even though she couldn't hear what he was saying, the rage was clear on his face. As for Natsu, he was huddled in a ball behind Zeref, looking terrified and shocked. It took Trinity a moment to see the black eye and bloody nose.

Trinity gasped and ran over just as the three kids Zeref had been yelling at ran off. She ran passed her older brother and straight to Natsu, crouching down to be at his level.

"What in the world happened?" she asked, her voice shrill as she ripped a piece of fabric from her dress and pressed it to Natsu's nose.

"I…um, well-," Natsu started, averting his eyes as if ashamed.

"Those three kids punched him," Zeref answered for him, his voice shaking with anger.

"Well yes, that part is obvious, but why?" Trinity said, worry and confusion mixing into annoyance.

"I punched him first," Natsu said in a small voice, still not looking at his sister. Trinity was shocked. She didn't know what to say. Her little brother _punched_ another kid? That didn't sound like him.

"They said that Mommy and Daddy are losers. They said only losers work in the fields and can't afford to buy nice things," Natsu finally turned to face his sister and Trinity found convection in his eyes. He believed he had done the right thing. Trinity heard Zeref let out a small breath behind her.

"Natsu," he began, his voice kind but firm, "you know that's not true. Why listen to them? You know in your heart that Mother and Father are amazing people, the best in fact. You shouldn't let it get to you."

"As long as you know that, what other people say doesn't matter," Trinity added, slowly taking the cloth away. His nose had stopped bleeding.

"I'm sorry," Natsu said, really meaning it.

"It's fine," Zeref reassured," just next time, give those dirt-bags a real thrashing!"

"Zeref!" Trinity exclaimed, turning to face her older brother and him and Natsu both laughed.

Natsu skipped along the road ahead of them, kicking dust up with his feet, seemingly forgetting about what had just gone down.

"So how did your test go?" Zeref asked her, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, don't remind me," she moaned, slouching a little. Zeref laughed at her reaction. He gave her a reassuring pat on the back, "you did great, I sure of it. You're the smartest eleven year old I know!" Zeref said encouragingly.

"I'm the only eleven year old you know," Trinity commented, giving him a wry look. The two of them laughed but didn't continue their conversation. They walked on in silence.

Trinity looked to her left, inspecting the windows of the shops they passed. Trinity loved to look at the items on sale almost as much as she loved to buy them. Something caught her eye. It was in the window of a guild hall, on the request board. She paused, letting her brother slip ahead of her. As she stared, she narrowed her eyes, trying to read the words.

"Retrieve…ebony healing stone…Magnolia…170,000 jewel," Trinity read quietly to herself. _That's quite the sum of money to just find some stone,_ she thought, pondering it. Zeref calling her snapped Trinity out of her thoughts.

"Coming!" she said, rushing to catch up to her siblings. Natsu giggled and ran towards her, meeting her halfway. He raced up to her, taggedß her on the arm and shouted, "you're it!" before speeding off, laughing the whole time.

"Oh you're on!" Trinity said, racing after him. The ebony stone was lost from her thoughts as she chased her brother, laughter bubbling up and out of her throat. Little did she know that this stone would have a bigger impact on her life than she could imagine.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry I haven't updated in so long! School has just been getting in the way. It's winter break now though, so I should be able to upload a few chapters pretty quickly. Also, if you didn't know, I did change the first chapter slightly based on some reviews. I think it's much better now and you may re-read it if you like (if you didn't already). Anyway, here's the new chapter!

When Trinity arrived home she could tell something was off. First of all, her mother was not in the kitchen where she usually would be when they came home, cooking dinner for that night. Second of all, her father was there, which was quite strange, seeing as he usually worked until it was time for dinner, which was not for two more hours. Lastly, there was another man in the house, standing next to her father. Trinity recognized him as the village doctor. She frowned at their worried expressions.

"Where's Mama?" Natsu asked, taking a step forward but went no further for Zeref pulling him back, sensing the tension in the room. Panic made Trinity's stomach do a back flip when she saw how her father reacted to the question. The three children stood still and silent as their father smiled sadly at them.

"Mama is not feeling well is all". He looked at Natsu, then turned to look at them all, "She is in her room and just needs some rest so we best not disturb her all right?"

Trinity managed a small nod, and she felt her brothers doing the same beside her. She felt partly relieved that her mother wasn't…gone (as she'd feared)…but at the same time sick to her stomach that her mother was so sick that it called for a doctor and her father acting strangely. Zeref turned to the doctor as his father scooped Natsu into his arms and into the adjacent room.

"What disease has she contracted, might I ask?" Zeref asked politely and calmly. Trinity smiled. It was just like her big brother to be so calm and collected, even in dire and stressful situations. The doctor seemed surprised at being asked, even at being acknowledged. He looked around, as if Zeref might mean some one else, before turning back to the young boy and smiling nervously.

"It is something new going around. Mainly in the larger cities. Highly contagious. Like the flu, but…different…worse," The doctor stuttered, wringing his hands nervously. In another situation, Trinity would have noticed and commented on how strange the doctor was, but her mind was working at a snail's pace to process each bit of information, so she didn't.

"So we may not see her?" Zeref finished. The doctor shook his head vigorously. A silence hung between the three of them for some time before Trinity finally asked the question on their minds.

"So, since it's new, there isn't a cure?" Trinity really hoped she was wrong. The silence continued for a few more moments before the doctor slowly shook his head, looking ashamed.

"My deepest apologies but, no," He pushed out in a quiet voice. More silence as the Dragneel children processed this new information. Trinity stared wide eyed at the ground, feeling numb, but slowly panic started to creep up her spine. Trinity thought she had asked the hardest question but was proven wrong when she heard Zeref's voice, and then the answer.

"What is the survival rate of this disease," His voice was so small and frail, afraid of the answer. The doctor gave him a sad look.

"One in ten, I'm afraid." That hit Trinity like a train. She staggered a little; feeling like all the air had been sucked out of her. She suddenly felt an arm wrap around her. Looking up, she saw Zeref steadying her. Though he was trying to be strong, she could tell he was trying not to have the same reaction as her.

"You have at most 1 week," the doctor continued, wincing at their reactions. "There is not much more I can do now. Again, I am truly sorry." He gave the two children a sad look before heading out the door, closing it slowly behind him. Trinity let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, collapsing to the ground. _No, no, no, no, no, no, no!_ She thought, clutching the fabric of her dress. Her breath became labored and she felt hot tears building up behind her eyes. Her heart was straining as if it wanted to burst right out of her and she felt sick. This was all too much to take in. She slapped a hand over her mouth as a sob escaped her. She barely felt Zeref crouch down and hug her as she started crying. The sobs wracked her body as she let it all go and cried out all the emotions built up inside her.

As Zeref hugged his weeping sister, he felt a silent tear slip down his cheek. He hugged her tighter. This was worse than what he had thought. When he had first come in and saw the situation, he had assumed the worst. He had assumed that his mother had passed, especially when Natsu's question hadn't been answered at first. That had been awful, but this was much worse. If there was anything worse than your mother dead, it was watching her die.

In the adjacent room, Natsu's father heard his daughter's sobs. He looked sadly at the ground. He had heard the entire conversation, though the doctor had already told him before the children showed up. The news hurt him just as much as he knew it hurt them, but he needed to be strong for them, so he would not let himself get caught up in it. He glanced at Natsu, his youngest son. It was clear that he had not heard a single word, as he was happily playing with marbles on the ground, blissfully unaware of what was going on.

Though the worry was killing him, Natsu's father forced a smile and scooped his youngest son into his arms.

"I believe it is time for bed!" he said as cheerfully as possible.

"So early!" Natsu whined.

"You were quite tired this morning, and you need lots of sleep," his father encouraged him, tucking him into his bed. Natsu gave a sigh but then smiled and said "good night" to his father. His father smiled back at him and left the room, rubbing his head as he headed to console his other children.

It was late. The full moon's light shone through Trinity's window where she lay on her bed. She was no longer crying. She didn't think she had any more tears to cry after all that.

Staring up at the ceiling, Trinity just thought. She thought about all the wonderful memories she had shared with her mother, which made her smile, and then filled her with great sadness when she realized they could no longer make memories like that again. She thought about her mother's smile, and how kind she was to all of them. Her mind started to drift, trying to find something to dwell on that didn't want to make her cry. It eventually landed on the poster she had seen in guild hall. The ebony healing stone. Slowly, she began to process it. A stone, that could heal anything. Her eyes slowly widened. She shot up, her mind starting to work over drive. A stone that could heal anything. That could heal her mother. She could save her mother.

Trinity started to smile, jumping out of bed, her hopes soaring. _Trinity you idiot._ Reality barreled into her. _How can some stone heal someone. Everyone knows magic doesn't exist._ She sat back down on the bed, her hopes crushed. But she wouldn't give up yet. What did she have to lose? There was no cure. She could give it a shot. Again, reality squashed her hopes back down; _even if it is real, how are you going to go all the way to Magnolia, find it, and come all the way back before father notices?_ Trinity pondered over this for a minute. She slowly stood up, walking to her closet. _It doesn't matter if I_ comeback _before he notices, I can always ask for forgiveness, it's not like he could be mad at me forever, especially if I save mom. I just need to_ leave _before he notices._

Trinity grabbed her bag and started stuffing everything she thought she might need for a trip to Magnolia. _Thank God it's a full moon tonight. I wouldn't have been able to see without it._

Once she had finished packing, she changed into the outfit she thought would be most practical; black everything. Black shirt, pants, cargo boots, and sweater. To top it all off, she tied her hair back into a pony tail. She surveyed herself in the house's only mirror. She could hardly see herself. Perfect.

Trinity grabbed her bag and tip toed towards the door, but stopped by the table. On it was food, almost all the food they had. Trinity eyed it. She knew she couldn't leave for a trip without food, but her family needed all of it. She finally decided to grab a few bananas and apples for the road. Stuffing them into her bag, she quietly opened the door and stepped out into the cold night, whispering a silent goodbye to her family. She eased the door closed and turned around, taking a few steps away from the house. She stopped. She took a shaky breath as she stared down the road. What was she doing? This was idiotic. She was an eleven year old girl traveling on her own to a far away town in the middle of the night. Any number of things could go wrong. _No,_ Trinity thought, _it is too late to turn back now._

With that, she took a breath and set off toward Magnolia.

Trinity had been traveling for a while; she estimated two hours or so. The village had slowly faded into dark forest, leaving her all alone with the moon and noises of the night. Even though she knew it was nothing, she still jumped when she heard the hoot of an owl or the snap of a branch as a mouse scurried across the path in front of her. She tried to shake out the nerves and focus on the task at hand. She started to think of how she was going to go about looking for the stone. First, she would act as if she was from the guild and came for the job request. She would ask around about clues and then start her searching. She had at tops a week. Sure it wasn't the most sound plan, but at least she had one. The snapping of a branch behind made her snap out of her thoughts and stop in her tracks. That was too big a branch to be made by a mouse. Fear prickled at her insides. Slowly, she turned around and saw nothing. She glanced around, her heart racing. A slight movement in the brush made her stop and stare. Her breath quickened.

"W-who is there?" She stammered, snatching up a stick and holding it out in front of her as if it would do much against all the terrifying beasts her mind was making up. Her body was shaking as her heart pounded faster than she thought was possible. The brush moved again and she gripped the stick harder. She took a step back and tripped over something, falling onto her butt. She knew this was a bad idea, and now, because of some stupid magical stone in some stupid guild, she was going to die. Right here and now, she was going to be ripped to shreds by whatever was hiding in the bush.

Whatever it was suddenly lunged at her. She screamed and ducked as if it would help. She crouched there for a moment, waiting for it to dig its claws into her back, but it didn't come. Instead, what came was hysterical laughs. Very familiar hysterical laughs. Trinity slowly looked up to see her little brother doubled over in laughter. Her eyes widened as she realized it was him who had been following her. Before she could reprimand him for following her, she felt anger and embarrassment at him scaring her. She threw the stick at him and scowled, mumbling about how it wasn't funny. Natsu finally managed to get a handle on his giggles and brushed the stick off him where it had landed when Trinity threw it. He gave his big sister a toothy grin.

"I got you good!" he exclaimed, giggling again.

"Natsu, what the heck do you think you're doing?" Trinity said sternly, ignoring him.

"I saw you leaving so I followed you but sneakily," he said, folding his legs so he was sitting cross-legged. Trinity scowled at him.

"You shouldn't have followed me. Why were you even up this late? No, look, it doesn't matter, you can't come with me. It's too dangerous for a kid."

"Then why are _you_ doing it?"

Trinity's scowl deepened. _You're a little oatmeal raisin cookie, and you know what, no-one likes oatmeal raisin cookies_.

"I can't take you with me," Trinity said again.

"You can't take me back. I'll tell Papa," Natsu smirked, knowing she wouldn't take him back now. Trinity fumed. What should she do? She couldn't take a five year old with her, but if she took him back then he would tell their father. Trinity shot him another scowl before sighing and opening her mouth to agree to let him come along when another figure stepped out onto the path. It was Zeref. He did not look pleased. What a surprise.

"Did the whole freaking family follow me!?" Trinity exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air as Natsu ran to great his eldest sibling.

"Where are you going and why so late?" Zeref asked her sternly, ignoring her previous comment, "Neverind, it does not matter. I am taking you both home." Zeref grabbed Natsu's hand and Trinity's arm, starting to drag them back down the path.

"Hey, hey, hey no!" Trinity said, pulling on her arm but Zeref wouldn't budge.

"Let go!" she shouted, "I'm not going back!"

"Yes, you are," Zeref said without turning around. Trinity continued to pull and squirm but he wouldn't let go. Finally she just exclaimed, "It's for Mother!" Zeref stopped. He turned to her with a scowl so deep that made Trinity flinch.

"How is running away with our little brother going to help Mother?" he growled. Trinity stared up at him for a moment, surprised by his sudden shift.

"Just hear me out, OK?" Trinity said slowly, carefully, pulling her arm out of Zeref's grip and sitting on the ground. She gazed up at her brother hopefully. After a moment full of silence and scowling, Zeref finally sighed and agreed. Natsu and Zeref both sat down beside their sister. Trinity looked at them both in turn, then took a breath and told them everything. She told them about what she had seen in the guild's window and how she thought it would help their mother. She even told them about how she planned to find the stone. When she was done both of them were looking at her with surprise. Natsu suddenly smiled.

"Will it work? Will it make Mama feel better?" He asked hopefully. Trinity smiled at him, "Maybe." Zeref looked extremely skeptical.

"Magic does not exist, Trinity," he told her.

"I know, but what else can we do. It's worth a shot if it's our only option isn't it?" she reasoned. Zeref looked at her, searching her eyes. He sighed again.

"Very well. I suppose it would not hurt to at least try to find this stone," Trinity gaped and Natsu cheered. She hadn't expected him to actually agree.

"However," Zeref continued, holding up a finger and silencing Natsu. "Your plan is…how can I say this…it sucks," He said plainly. Trinity scoffed, "Well sorry coming up with plans isn't my forte. You got a better one?" Zeref smiled. "Why did I even ask; of course you do," she said, rolling her eyes.

"If we are going to do this, we are going to do this my way, and by my rules, alright?" Zeref asked his two siblings.

"Yes, sir!" they both said in unison, sitting at attention and saluting. Zeref rolled his eyes.

"All right, here it is…"


	3. Chapter 3

Ok, so originally I thought I was going to update on a regular basis, but based on the times I've updated the last 2 chapters and then this one, I guess not. So, I would like to apologize to anyone who was hoping for a regular update. I would also like to thank everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed. You all are just wonderful blueberries and I appreciate you so much (just a btw I called you all blueberries because blueberries are awesome and so are you!)! The people who leave reviews, you make me feel so wonderful! Whenever I am feeling sad, I just look at the reviews and you make me feel better. Also, I'm always taking suggestions so feel free to give me any and all ideas! They are so helpful! Anyway, without further ado, here is the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Fairy Tail, just my OCs.

When the Dragneel siblings reached Magnolia, it was by far not what they had expected. What they had originally thought was going to be a full-fledged city was barely more than a full-fledged village. A few huts and the occasional house dotted the more or less bare landscape. To the left was a collection of stalls, venders standing behind or beside them to shout their prices and bargains to the crowd of people milling through. To the right was a slightly bigger building than all the rest of the accommodations. Some plants had been placed outside in an attempt to make it seem more important. Trinity assumed that it was the mayor's house.

Glancing around at her surroundings, the daughter Dragneel wondered if they were actually even going to be able to pull off Zeref's plan. Honestly, it wasn't even a plan; Zeref just said that he and Natsu would go talk to the mayor and ask for assistance while Trinity took what money she had and got them some food. Whoop-dee-do. Trinity sighed.

"Well," Zeref chirped, trying to be positive, "we all know what we must do". With that, he grabbed Natsu's hand and started towards the larger building. Trinity sighed again. She had a feeling she would be sighing a lot on this trip.

Trinity maneuvered her way through the crowd of stalls and people. She was wearing her usual red dress with her hair in a bun this time. She had changed in the bushed before they had entered the town, figuring it might be a little suspicious if she came in dressed in all black and a hood. Her genius brothers hadn't even thought about bringing clothes, let alone anything, so they were stuck in the clothes they had been wearing the night before

The market was a lot bigger than she had anticipated and it held quite a few more people than she had thought. She ducked just in time to avoid colliding with a large wooden bowl hung from the wooden beams that stretched across the top of the lane. This caused her to bump head first into a tall man who was bargaining with a vender. She rubbed her nose sorely, bumbling apologies, but the man didn't even look up. She sighed again and continued on her way, looking for food.

A few minutes later, Trinity had stopped to look at some apples when she felt a tickling on her right foot. Frowning, she glanced down to see what it was nearly fainted with fright. A large spider, bigger than her hand, was crawling over her foot. She slapped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. Her mind screamed at her shake it off but she didn't dare move, thinking it might anger it and cause it to bite her or something. Her body shook as she watched the monster amble its way over her foot. Suddenly, a hand appeared and scooped it into their arms. As soon as it was off her she leaped back. She glanced up and saw an old man carefully holding the spider as if it were a house cat. He fixed her with piercing blue eyes and started rambling in some foreign language. Her hands still placed over her mouth, Trinity raced away through the crowd, hoping her brothers were having better luck.

Zeref yanked back his hand just in time to save it from being flattened as the door slammed in his face. He blinked once, then again, shocked at the rudeness of the mayor of this town. _Mayor_. Weren't they supposed to be at the very least respectable enough to at least say hello before slamming the door in someone's face.

He felt a slight tug on his other hand and looked down at the face of his little brother.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked innocently.

Zeref smiled and pretended that he actually did have the slightest clue.

"We are going to have to meet with Trinity and decide then. Besides, it is getting late, and we need to be getting to bed". With that, he spun on his heels and started to walk as confidently as he could back they came, shoving the thought of how inhospitable the locals were into the far reaches of his mind. But it kept coming back.

Zeref pondered why this was. People weren't naturally mean and unfriendly, were they? What had made the people of this town particularly unfriendly? It wasn't just the mayor was it? No. Now that he thought about it, no one had approached him while they had been here. He glanced around and barely saw anyone; the people he did see avoided him like the plague. Zeref frowned at this. They seemed to be talking in hushed tones to one another, but never someone that seemed to come from outside the town. Zeref found himself turning over this thought again and again in his brain. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he was surprised to see his sister staring at him indignantly when he finally turned forward again. He glanced at her scowl and thoughts of town were immediately replaced with thoughts of why she would be annoyed.

"Oh yes!" She started, sarcasm dripping from her voice, "how splendid it would be to make Trinity go into that zoo of a market while I go dilly dallying off to the big white house! I am sure that she wouldn't mind, much less have the fright of her life!" She looked at him expectantly, her foot tapping impatiently on the ground. Zeref stared at her dumbfounded. "Uh…" he stammered after a moment. "Sorry?" he tried. Her eyes narrowed but at least her foot stopped tapping. Heaving a sigh, she held out a woven basket she had probably picked up somewhere in the market, showing him a meager assortment of apples and pears, with a small chunk of meat in the middle. He took the basket and found in surprisingly heavy.

"That should be enough to last us for the time here. I still have a few jewels left over. We could probably use that for a blanket or two; Natsu and I could share I guess. Speaking of, where is our brother?" She frowned, bending to look behind him as if he would be hiding. Zeref frowned as well, not entirely sure what she was getting at.

"I am not sure what you mean, he is right here…" Zeref turned around to where he thought Natsu would be standing, only to find empty space.

Trinity's eyes widened as she watched her brother spin around in frantic circles.

"Are you saying you LOST OUR BROTHER?" She raised her voice, shocked. Her brother was probably more responsible than both her parents combined, but he some how lost a sibling. Great! Not like she needed anything more on her hands right now.

"How do you even loose a person!? You're a special kind of smart, that's for sure," she scoffed. This time, she joined Zeref in his frantic searching.

"No, I am certain he is still here, perhaps merely playing a game," Zeref muttered absently. She could tell it was mainly meant to reassure himself, but he didn't sound so certain.

A building fear crept from the bottom of her stomach, digging a pit and reaching cool arms throughout the rest of her body. This was real. They actually didn't know where Natsu is. They lost their freaking brother. Well her brother lost her freaking brother, but now is not the time to blame! _You can blame after you've found Natsu_ , she told herself, scampering a little further to broaden their perimeter for searching. As she frantically looked, her mind flaring with thoughts that got her riled up, thoughts about where he was, if some one took him, maybe he's— _no. Don't think like that. He probably just saw a dog or something and chased it._ Taking a small breath, she managed to calm her nerves long enough to sit and think for a minute. She closed her eyes, controlled her breathing, and thought, _hard_. She flipped through places in her mind, desperately searching for somewhere that she thought he might have gone off to.

Suddenly, she felt a gently hand on her shoulder. She glanced up from her thinking to see Zeref's face gazing down at her with concerned sadness.

"I am really sorry, Trinity. I will find him, I can promise you that." His eyes were set in determination with that last sentence. Trinity nodded slightly, feeling her panic eased. That was the effect Zeref had on people; he could make people believe and follow him so easily. It was a scary thing to think that someone was cable of that, but her brother only used it to help people, so really, it was a good thing.

Trinity took the hand Zeref offered her, and pulled herself to her feet.

"Ok," she started, her voice still shaking slightly along with the rest of her body. Her main point of focus was on making sure her nerves didn't spiral out of control, but in the brief moment of calm, she was able to think of a place she thought Natsu might have gone.

Pink hair bobbed in the wind as Natsu's feet danced across the dirt floor, blissfully hopping this way and that. He was caught in the moment, unaware that his brother and sister were worried sick over where he was. He thought that what he was doing was right, so there was no deterring him from it.

Natsu had grown bored with Zeref and Trinity not actually trying to find the stone. All his boring big brother wanted to do was go ask the locals and find a good place to sleep that night. Natsu, however, knew that the best course of action was to actually go out and look for the stone, which is exactly what he had done. It was sure to be much faster than asking around.

As Natsu looked for the stone, he played a silent game with himself. He pretended that the dirt was lava and that he could only step on the roots and stones that dotted the landscape. He thought he was doing pretty well. Not once had he stepped on the dirt, but now he was trapped on a single stone, balancing precariously on one foot. There was no close stone or root except for one about five feet away. It was his only option. Now squeezing both feet onto the stone, he bent his legs, his tongue sticking out in concentration. Finally, he took a flying leap, the farthest he could. His foot almost made it. Instead, it landed on the dirt right before it. However, the force of his jump made him swing forward, tripping over his intended landing place, and cascading down a hill on the other side.

When he finally came to a stop at the bottom, his whole body hurt. He moaned, slowly sitting up.

"Ow." He rubbed his head sorely. When he had gotten over the initial shock, he opened his eyes, and what he found made his jaw drop open.

He had fallen down a small incline that landed him in a tiny ravine, fairly wide across, with rolling green grass on either side. But what was really beautiful was the sparkling stream that flowed down the center. The morning sun made the water glisten, and cast gorgeous pinks and oranges onto the surface. He gazed in aw, the sun warming his cheeks ever so slightly.

Suddenly, something on the surface of the creek caught the sun's rays and reflected them, making Natsu quickly shield his eyes from the light. Once the light faded slightly, he crept to the edge and peered over.

It took a second for Natsu to find it again because of all the wonderful things that lay beneath the waters surface, just waiting to steal your attention. But he focused, somehow knowing it was important that he find it again.

His eyes suddenly caught on the same shine a few feet away from where he was. He eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. He knew he was looking at a rock, but it didn't _feel_ like a rock. He couldn't explain it, but something compelled him to lean a little closer. Something told him that he needed to touch that rock, he just _had_ to. He found himself leaning; slowly, but surely, towards the rock. His brain was such in a daze from it's beauty that he didn't realize he was leaning a little to far off the edge. Suddenly, his hands slipped out from under him and his eyes widened as he tumbled into the water.

Something like this happened to a normal person probably just would have made their day a whole lot worse, but the trouble was, Natsu didn't know how to swim.

I-is this real? Did I actually post a chapter? I'm not dead? I've actually just been procrastinating really bad? Yup! That's me! Any way, Sorry if this chapter is a little bit shorter than usual, I just felt like this was a good place to end. Of, course, like always, I will try to post another chapter, but of course, like always, I probably will procrastinate and not post one for a while so… sorry in advance!

You are all lovely blueberries and I hope you all love this chapter! Again, I am always open to suggestions (I love to hear what you lovelies have to say!), and hope that you guys favourite and review! Okay, wait, no, stop, Sarah. Now you sound really greedy. I swear, if you guys literally just read it I will be happy! Alright, that's all! See you soon my lovely blueberries!


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